The downfall of an empire begins with internal strife. Dr. Lucio Tan’s empire is no different from the dynasties of Imperial China. Trusted advisers are axed by the emperor as advised by his greed mongering administrators. Lucio is no different from these Emperors. He who foments distrust will fall heavily under those who are after his wealth. Dr. Tan’s feud with brother Mariano Tanenglian has earned him the ire of most of the Filipino-Chinese community. Will he choose the path of righteousness?

Thursday

Strike won't affect operations: PAL

MANILA -- The management of the country's flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL), vowed Sunday to do its best to ensure that the strike its employees are planning to stage will not affect its operations.

Members of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Airlines Employees Union are planning to stage in the next two weeks a strike, said PAL president Jaime Bautista.

He said PAL already received the notice of strike, but the company will make arrangements to ensure that the passengers are not affected.

Bautista said PAL will use its administrative staff in case of strike, and will ask other airlines to serve some of its routes.

Bautista also clarified that they are not planning to employ foreign pilots contrary to reports, although there were German pilots who showed interest in flying with PAL.

"There are foreign pilots who are interested in flying with PAL but it does not necessarily mean that we are going to hire them," he said.

He said the foreign pilots just wanted to fly with PAL for them to gain more flying experience while they are waiting to be called by a German carrier.

Bautista is confident the airline can resolve the problem it is experiencing right now. He said they are still coping up with the flights that were reduced due to resignation of some of its pilots.

"In a few months, we should be back to normal," he said, citing there are enough contingency measures to ensure PAL's normal operations. (Sunnex)